INS Investigator (J15)

INS Investigator (J15) (Hindi: अन्वेषक) is the fourth ship in the , and operates as a hydrographic survey ship in the Indian Navy's Southern Naval Command. Investigator is equipped to prepare marine charts and electronic maps for the Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS). It can provide humanitarian aid and disaster-management support, and can be quickly converted into a hospital ship; the ship is equipped with an operating theater and associated equipment to deal with medical emergencies at sea. Investigator, powered by two diesel engines, was built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers and launched in 1987 by West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu. It was commissioned into naval service at the Mumbai naval base in 1990. One of a series of indigenously-designed and -constructed ships, Investigator is used for hydrographic surveys. In addition to surveying equipment, the ship is armed with a Bofors 40 mm gun for self defence and carries a helicopter, four survey motorboats, and two small boats. Like its other Sadhayak-class sister ships, Investigator is equipped with a wide range of navigational and communications systems. Its modern surveying systems include a multi-beam swath echo-sounding system, differential GPS, motion sensors, a sea gravimeter, a magnetometer, oceanographic sensors, side-scan sonar equipment, an automated data-logging system, a sound-velocity profiling system, and a digital survey and processing system. This equipment allows the ship to meet the ISO 9002 digital-survey accuracy standards required for the production of electronic navigation charts and publications in accordance with the International Hydrographic Organization. Investigator primary tasks are hydrographic survey, nautical chart preparation, cartography and training, and it is equipped with a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV), an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and an unmanned surface vehicle (USV). In early 2008, the ship conducted a hydrographic survey in Seychelles in cooperation with the Seychelles Coast Guard (SCG) and the Seychelles People's Defence Force (SPDF).